


Clean and Frosty

by Pensola



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Meihem shipping week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-07
Updated: 2016-09-11
Packaged: 2018-08-07 05:45:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7702885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pensola/pseuds/Pensola
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of snippets of Junkrat and Mei for Meihem Week.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Distracted?

**Author's Note:**

> Early warning: I’m not good with romance, the sort of comedy-romance I feel Meihem/Junkmei is, but I had some scenarios in my head that I wanted to try to write, with varying results. Most of the snippets are not romantic, but I hope to get there. For now, they are just talking and having small moments here and there.

Mei could see the junker at the roof, shooting his grenades down wherever he saw an enemy on the other side. _Or_ , she added in her head, _wherever he felt like_. It honestly would not surprise her if he forgot what they were even doing here and just attacked anyone he saw. She knew Tracer and other Overwatch members were somewhere on that side, but hopefully they knew to be careful. Her job was to guard the weapon until Winston could get a proper transporter over to their location, so no matter how much she wanted to, she could not just leave it.

A faint yell belonging to Tracer caught her attention. She saw the afterlight of her friend’s blink and sighed in relief. Then she looked up at the junker laughing manically at the roof, still shooting his stupid grenades. Mei felt a twitch in her face as she ran from the safety of the payload, created an ice wall underneath her to reach the roof, and walked to him.

She could still see the payload, she reasoned in her head.

“What are you doing?” she demanded, though not touching his soot filled body. He launched the last grenade before he finally looked at her.

“What’s it look like I do?” he asked her, too loud to be safe, “I’m making everything EXPLODE!” If enemies had not found him based on his terrible aiming and laughter, they definitely knew where he was now.

“You are not helping! All you do is shoot everywhere! What if they detonate against Tracer or the others?”

“Gah, Snowball, you worry yer little head too much!” He took a quick look up and down at her. “I mean seriously, with those clothes it really looks like your head’s TINY! Why even dress like that? We’re in Mexico!”

Mei was about to reply back at him when she saw movement at the ground. Some distance away, she could see an omnic aim something pointy toward their direction, and just as she realized it was a bazooka, it had been fired.

Without missing a beat, Mei aimed her gun at the ground before them and created a new ice wall, but it was too close and too weak, and she knew it. The scientist let her arms around Junkrat and pushed him down just as the wall failed and the explosion pushed them off the roof.

They were lucky; Mei’s extensive overdressing protected her somewhat from the fall, but her entire body hurt and she groaned at the pain. She still shielded herself from any debris coming their way, and soon her groans mixed in with coughing from the dust. As she heard a helicopter in the distance, she opened her eyes.

“Junkrat?” she called out when she realized he was no longer by her side. “Junkrat?” As the noises around her dwindled, she finally caught the sound of heavy breathing not too far from her, and she saw the young man a few meters away, laying on his back with his limbs spread out. Mei felt her heart skip a beat in fear as she started crabbing to him. “Hey, are you-?”

“That was AMAIZING!” The fool started laughing again, some coughing getting out in between, before he managed to lift himself up to a sitting position. “That was a masterpiece! The whole roof fell apart! Even the walls, look! Just BOOM! Augh…”

Normally she would yell at him or at least tell him that the building’s destruction was NOT something to admire, but right now she just let herself fall back on the ground, relaxed knowing the fool was alive, and that she was alive.

“Oi, Talon got cold feet and retreated! We got a few o’em though, so that’s something!” Tracer said as she blinked before them. Her smile disappeared when she saw the state they were in. “You okay, loves? What happened?”

“It’s okay, Tracer,” Mei said with a skewed smile, getting up to her shaking feet. “We were on the roof, and they sent a bazooka after us. The ice wall blocked most of the damage from us, but the house…” she looked over at what used to be a home for a family she had never met. “I’m sorry.”

“Oh, I’m sure it will be fine, love,” Tracer said and waved with her hand, but Mei could see the worry in her half-smile. “Anyway, they must have seen an opening and taken one last push before they gave up, maybe they hoped to take some of us down at least. The important thing is, I’m glad you’re both safe.” The faint sound of another helicopter could be heard in the distance, and they both turned to the sound. It was Winston’s, that much was obvious with the huge Overwatch logo on its side. “Ah, perfectly timed! I’ll go and tell the others!” With a blink, Tracer had moved from Mei’s side to the other side of the destroyed house. Though she was quick to blink again, Mei could see how she flinched as she inspected the damage, probably wondering what to tell Winston.

When the Brit was out of sight, Mei remembered Junkrat, and turned to see him on his prosthetic knee, his real one shaking as he tried to get up. He made some weird, almost comical, sounds as he finally got to his feet, but his gloved arm embraced his side, and his cackling had stopped.

_“They must have seen an opening and taken one last push…”_

_I was distracting him_ , she realized as the other Overwatch members arrived to the scene and helped Winston load the payload into the hangar. Because she was keeping him occupied from reloading, the enemies had more than enough time to come up with a last ditch to get rid of him. If she had just let him do as he had done, the grenades would have distracted Talon too much to get into position with the bazooka.

No, it was _not_ her fault; she couldn’t even be sure she had stopped him at anything. He might have distracted enemies, but his bombs had surely been a bother for Tracer as well. Not to mention, there was no guarantee that Talon wouldn’t have placed the bazooka-omnic somewhere else, or that Junkrat would have noticed in time to get away. No matter what could have been, they still ended up with no casualties on their side, and with the payload away from Talon’s hands.

Still, she felt a twinge of consciousness as she watched the man use his real arm to embrace his side. He was a pyromaniac with no thought for others, but he had not blamed her or accused her of distracting him. Not even when Winston came out of the hangar and demanded to know what had happened, and bemoaned how they would be able to pay back the unfortunate family, did he say it was Mei’s fault. Even when the junker was obviously in pain and knew where the pain was coming from, either he did not realize she might technically be at fault, or he did not care. Honestly, Mei found it hard to decide which it was most likely to be, and which was the better option.

Maybe that was why, when Junkrat seated himself next to her for the flight back to the main base, Mei kept quiet when she usually would have groaned and moved away. It helped that this time he was in no condition to try making jokes or tell obnoxious stories to her. When the man fell asleep and started snoring, his dirty hair almost touching her as he leaned to the side, she wrinkled her nose and tried to get some distance, but did not wake him up.

She was honestly surprised how generous she was being toward this man all the way back to base, up to giving him her soda when he came to the kitchen.

“Why, Snowball, if I didn’t know better I’d say you fancy me!” he said when stretching for the soda, winking at her with a stretched tongue. “If you want to show the fancy in more-“

She opened the can and let it fall to the ground, spilling it all out as she exited. Her gratefulness and patience could only run so far.

 


	2. Spring Festival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is the Chinese New Years, and Junkrat wants to surprise Mei.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic was inspired by this post: http://mingsonjia.tumblr.com/post/113666710556/circetorilavalos-zooophagous-mingsonjia-talking
> 
> If anything is inaccurate or wrong, please tell me so I can correct myself! Chinese culture is not a strong point of mine.

During the spring festivals, ever since she had been unfrozen, Mei had spent the event alone. Before she officially rejoined the illegal Overwatch, she would be in her hometown, doing some of her family’s traditions, and contemplate on the world and her future. Now that she could not travel safely by herself, she would just prepare some food and be in her room, maybe work on her technology or blaster, but mostly just thinking.

The others knew her plans and understood that she liked her space. That was why, though they were kind to her, they did not pressure her to spend time with them or really hold long conversations.

Unfortunately, there was one certain person that either did not get the memo, or did not care.

“Oh, you’re gonna love this, Snowball, _this_ time I guarantee it!” Junkrat grinned manically with an added excitement, as he guided Mei out of Watchpoint: Gibraltar and over to the water. “This time I even have Roadhog’s gruff of approval!”

“That’s… great.” Mei looked around at the scenery while they walked. Knowing that at least another person had heard Junkrat’s plan and not stopped him comforted her _a little_ , and she knew the man would not – or could not – cause fatal harm to any innocents in this secluded area. However, she was not exactly in the mood to be dragged around on New Years. Though she was no longer cautious of the madman as she had been the first weeks, she wished she had brought her blaster, just in case. At least she could cover them from a potential failed explosion – Because with Junkrat, she was sure explosions would be part of this.

Finally Junkrat stopped when they reached something that suspiciously looked like a detonator. Mei frowned at the sight.

“Junkrat, I swear, this better not-“

“Don’t worry, mate, just keep an eye out for the lil’ island over there!”

Looking at the direction he pointed to, the scientist did see a somewhat large group of stones toward the middle. If she squinted, she noticed a strange machine on it, with a cable that went into the water, and looking at the detonator that Junkrat just pushed down she could assume-

Just as she realized what Junkrat had done, the machine on the isle sent out a huge hiss as a rather huge rocket was fired from it toward the skies.

Then the rocked exploded and released fish raining down.

Mei’s mouth ran various curses in her native language at the sudden change of events.

The fish – obviously burned by the fire – fell around them. One landed perfectly on Mei’s gaping face. She could taste some of the scales.

Then she realized what was going on.

“’ _I wish you fish every year’_!” she gasped in Mandarin, the fish sliding down to join its brethren.

With another second to completely comprehend Junkrat’s gift, she bawled of laughter.

“Eh, eh? Ya like it, doncha?” The blonde leaned more down than usual to meet her height as she was leaning down, her arms clutching her stomach as her laughter gave her cramps. “Oi, ya gotta tell me whacha think or I’ll think you’re dying here!”

“I-it’s fine!” she managed to get out and held one arm up to let him give her some space; he complied ever so much. “I-I just-… this really surprised me. My family used to eat fish during reunion and then watch fireworks, but I didn’t think about mixing them like this! This is…” Finally she felt her body calm, and she raised her back to stand properly again, one arm still clutching her stomach while her other hand removed some tears from her eyes. “It’s so YOU.”

Junkrat’s toothy grin reached his eyes, and he actually stood straight up and put his hands on his hips very satisfied. “So, you like it?”

She turned over to look at him, about to answer ‘I love it!’, when she saw the wide eyes as he waited for her to say something. Or, he tried to watch her, but the eyes kept darting away at the fish still falling or at other things around them. The smile was no longer proud and satisfied, and reminded her of who he was.

 _He is still Junkrat_ , she reminded herself, _he is still a murderer and a criminal._ She knew that it was hypocritical of her to keep that above him when many of her friends admittedly were ready to and had taken lives. But she had spent such a long time barely tolerating him, not helped by him just _recently_ putting his act together around her, that it was hard to let it go. Even now, when she had just had the biggest laughing fit in years, on one of her most depressing days, looking at him she knew she needed to take things slow, for both their sakes.

With that in mind, she gave him and answer, smiling as she turned back to the lake. “Yeah. Yes, I like it.”

The junker cackled, satisfied, and sat down on the ground with his arms behind his head. She smiled down at him with raised eyebrows, but did not sit down with him, instead looking at the water and noticing the dead floating fish.

“So, where did you get all that fish, anyway?” Mei asked cautiously, a small part of her not wanting to ruin this rare moment.

“Well, at first I thought I’d’ve Roadhog get me lotsa fresh fish with his machine gun, but he said you might not like that and I was like ‘yeah, mate, yer right’, so I went to the kitchen and got all our supply of frozen fish instead.”

A fading memory of Genji asking after all the fish they were supposed to have crossed Mei’s mind, but honestly, she was in too good a mood to really be bothered for once. Instead she chuckled and carefully sat down on the ground, a meter away from Junkrat. She halfway prepared for him to say something or move closer, but instead he just looked relaxed and satisfied up at the now fishless sky where he was laying.

Mei smiled and whispered, “ _Nián nián you yú_.”


	3. Out with a Whimper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After barely surviving an ambush thanks to Junkrat's tire, the two hug it out.

“Enemies are reengaging!” Mei spoke into her communicator, hiding behind a car. “Winston, what happened?”

“We are holding the point over here, but some of them must have gotten past to get to you! Protect the helicopter, they might be trying to strand us here with no escape!”

“Okay, I’ll go and tell Junkrat.” Mei took a deep breath, put her blaster on wall-mode, and created a big, strong ice wall between her and Talon. Running further behind, she eventually found the junker side-leaning to a car with one of his traps in his hand, looking at it as if they were having a conversation.

“Junkrat, enemies are on their way to us. We have to eliminate them, Winston and the others have their hands full on their end.”

“Crikey, this is perf time to use me secret weapon!” He took his arms to his back and with a big thump dragged the giant tire to the front. Mei wanted to mention that the tire was in no way a secret, but did not bother. “This one is upgraded; more bombs, more fire, and with spikes that can practically make it climb up walls!”

With a wink as he took a hold on the chain to start the engine, he added, “I made it to climb up yer ice wall to get to you. It’s fool proof!”

“Wait, why-“ Foreign shouts were heard behind the corner, so the scientist decided to put the question aside for after mission. “Doesn’t matter, just get it on!”

“Sure thing, Snowball.” With his pegleg firmly on the ground, he dragged the chain out and shouted, “FIRE IN THE HO-“

Something snapped, and now Mei and Junkrat were looking at the severed chain he was holding, and the tire it was supposed to be connected to. “Huh, that hasn’t happened in a while.”

“What do you mean? Why isn’t the tire going?”

“I think the conno to the chain’n engie’s broken, gimme a minute…” without even waiting for an answer he kneeled down and opened the tire’s plate. He took some tools he apparently kept in his pockets and started tinkering.

“What are you doing, you were-“ She saw enemies in her sight and hurriedly summoned an ice wall to shield them from the coming bullets. “Didn’t you check the tire before we?”

“We don’t always have time before emergency missions, mate.”

“We’re supposed to check our equipment every day!”

“And I have better things to do than check stuff I _think_ work!”

“Yes, and look where we are now!”

“Oh, shut it, mate, will ya? I need to concentrate, if I do it wrong now I’ll have to make new _limbs_ for us later.”

“What?” The ice wall was falling apart and she quickly summoned a new one. “Oh, no, I am NOT using any of your inventions! If I need new limbs I’ll go to Dr. Ziegler! Which, by the way, better not happen!”

“You just said that was what was GOING to happen!”

“No, I meant, you BETTER not mess the tire up! I’m not getting caught in that explosion!”

“Ya really need to learn to be more precise, Snowball.”

She was about to reply when she saw the ice wall about to let go again. She pointed her gun to make another one, but nothing came out.

“Oh, no,” she whispered as she rechecked the weight of her backpack. “It’s empty.”

“Nah, I’m serious, there’s some delly bombs in this tire, I pro-“

“No, my backpack!” she cut off. “It doesn’t have more cryo-gas left! The wall will give up soon!”

“Well, no point in double-checking then! Just keep it a little longer and I’ll finish up!”

“How? It’s breaking apart NOW!”

“Five seconds!” He threw the tools behind him and reached for the lock on the tire.

“We don’t HAVE-!” Then she heard chirping behind her, and remembered that there was one last can of cryo-gas left for emergencies. Without waiting, she took her arm behind her, grabbed the chirping drone and just as the wall fell, threw it out at the enemies. Some shots were fired and she blocked herself, but then it got quiet as the chirping got loud and aggressive. Turning around, she saw that the mercenaries were frozen, a few already starting to break free. “It worked!”

“FIRE IN THE HOLE!” Beside her she heard the sound of an engine, and she saw the tire roll from her side. Just as she registered it, Junkrat took an arm at her shoulder and pushed her with him to turn around and bend down. Then they heard the tire explode and the screams of the mercenaries, as well as a peeping in her ears.

After a few seconds the ringing started to fade, and she felt Junkrat’s hand leave her shoulder. She took this as a sign that it was safe to look up. That, or they had been gunned down and her boon at death was to avoid his touch.

Slowly, she turned around, and saw the cars on fire, some of their alarms still going, while the Talon agents were lying spread around.

“ _We… we did it_?” she asked carefully in Mandarin, not thinking about the language barrier at the moment. “ _We’re alive_?”

She did not know what did it – maybe it was euphoria from surviving a close-death encounter – but she started to laugh as her arms embraced Junkrat’s torso, letting their bodies meet as she kept laughing. “It worked! We’re alive, we’re alive!”

The laughter slowly died when she felt two arms embrace her in turn, and she realized just what she had done. She was still smiling, but when she spoke, there was more confusion in her voice than euphoria.

“Junkrat? Junkrat, you can let go now.”

“Nuh uh, we agreed. I won’t touch you but it you touch me I get ten seconds.”

The memory of agreement flashed through her mind, and as her cheeks reddened, she chuckled slightly out of embarrassment.

“O-okay, but I’m, I’m counting the seconds.” And she tried to, but she just noticed that, due to their height difference, she was just so close to his torso, she noticed the tan underneath the soot on his skin. That, and he was warm. With the way they were hugging, her cheek met his skin and she could feel the warmth. It was weird and it did not help that her creeping blush only made it warmed and -

Because of that distraction, she had not realized how the junker’s arms and descended ever so slowly, and at around the tenth second of their embrace, she felt a squeeze on her-

“Whoah!” She immediately jumped away form the embrace, her arms now caressing her behind. “What was THAT?”

“What was what?”

“You- you grabbed my butt!”

“I just wanted to take it all in when I first get the opportunity.” The usual smile of his was back, now with added mischief and mirth. “Pretty good stuff, mind if I call’em Squishy?”

“No, you can’t call my butt anything!”

She did not know what drove her to do it – maybe it was adrenaline, or her embarrassment and shock – but before she could think it trough, she removed her left hand’s glove, and the hand shot out and smacked Junkrat’s butt, resulting in him making the weirdest yelp that sounded equally surprised and satisfied. To Mei’s own surprise, she kind of liked the sound he made, and halfway went to do it again when Junkrat moved so his behind was inaccessible.

“Oi! Yer grabbing MY ASS now?”

“Now-now we’re even! No more touching butts!”

“Ya tried to grab it a second time, though! I get to do one more!” He seemed to reach out to her, and she jumped away, her hands shielding her behind. She could not help it, she started to giggle as he tried one more time.

“Uh…”

The two of them stopped and slowly turned their heads toward the road the agents had come from, and saw now a certain Lúcio Correia dos Santos, his eyes going back and forth between them with a very confused look.

“Did I interrupt something private, or…?”

Apparently this turn of events was hilarious, because Junkrat started to snicker briefly before it levelled to full-on laughter. Mei just looked down, shaking and trying to hide her tomato-red face as she put the glove back in her left hand. She would never hear the end of this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had two versions of the ending, one where the mess from the explosion was gory and Mei was reminded of Junkrat’s nonchalant view of lives, and this. I decided to just go with the PG rated one and end the story on a semi-good note. Just pretend that the Talon agents are all in one piece with no blood, or just ignore that part. Really, that part was just because I for some reason wanted to write the two of them quarrel in a very stressful situation.
> 
> The rule of touching was something that I had planned to write in another chapter, where Mei laid down some ground rules after one too many personal shenanigans. Basically, she did not like when Junkrat invaded her personal space, and he asked what he should do if SHE touched HIM. She said then it was okay to touch back, but only for ten seconds (mostly because she couldn't imagine a situation where she would ever willingly touch him; this would still be early in their team-working days). I might actually write that later, but it was not ready for today.


	4. Shotput

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Junkrat't Summer Games 2016-themed highlight intro, Mei arrives to tend to his wounds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a simple idea I had after watching the highlight intro enough times (am I ever so salty about how easy Junkrats get PotG? No…). There are no explanations to how or why Junkrat is playing shotput or where they are, just that he is and that he failed. The wounds are not dire, just comedy cartoon-level of "ow, I need maternal care and scolding!".
> 
> Also, this would take place somewhat later, perhaps years, when Mei and Junkrat have become somewhat of an item, and they are both comfortable with each other's physical contact.

“Why,” she started carefully as she sat down on the ground with the necessary medical kit, ”did you think it was a good idea to play shotput with a BOMB?”

Junkrat tried to chuckle, but it only came out as a smoking cough where he was laying.

“I don’t know, Snowball, it felt like a good idea at the time.” She carefully helped him sit up, and while she got a wet cloth to wash the smoke from his face, he arched his back to get a little closer with their height difference. Despite cuts and burns, he did not flinch from the cloth.

“Mhm,” she mumbled with a weak smile. He got the vaguest feeling she did not believe him. “I finally realize why you use a launcher and a wheel; you’re terrible at throwing things.”

“Oi, I’ll have ya know I aint got this body just for show.” Mei dragged a shard with a pincer from his chin, and he did not make a sound. “Don't ya see me carry me RIP-Tire around all the time?”

“Yes, but strength is not all you need to throw well, no matter how heavy the tire is.” Seeing the junker glaring at her, she added with a chuckle, “And no, I am never going to call the tire that. Only you think it sounds intimidating.”

“Rubbish, ya just have a bad sense o'drama.”

Mei rolled her eyes but her smile did not falter until she cleaned the wounds, again with no flinching or sounds from him. Compared to his life as a junker at the Outbacks, these small pains must be nothing.

The scientist looked around for bandages, deep in thought. They talked about the Outbacks now and then, but Jamison would skip anything that was not action-filled or explosive. Though she would call him a child at times, a child would whine and cry when they got burned or had their fresh wounds touched. She kept forgetting that, sometimes, just like he could forget how hardened and isolated she really was compared to his first impressions.

Noticing how Jamison stared at her with his wide eyes, Mei sighed and sprayed some quick-healing spray over the wounds, then put on band-aids over the cuts. It might not be the best, and Ziegler would most likely do it better, but if she knew the junker (and she half-begrudgingly, half-proudly, admitted she did), she knew he would rather have her tend to him. Nevertheless, she smiled with fondness to him when a little image crept to her.

“Well, you were being very good, so…” Before he could react, she raised herself a little higher and gave him a peck on his cheek, close to the edge of his lips. “That is for being a good patient.”

Junkrat cackled a little. Mei rose back on her feet with the kit in one hand, her other reaching down to help the man up. He accepted it, and as he got up he also quickly pecked her on the head, which was easier with his better height.

“Thanks fer treatin’ me.”


	5. Bully Rules

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After one too many shenanigans, Mei needs to vent some of her frustration.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't get to write the last chapters for Meihem Shipping Week before it was over, and then my studies began again. This is incredibly late and I'm not that happy with it, but I might as well just get it out.

“I’ve HAD it with him!”

Before Mei had time to think about what she had said, the words were out as she stormed into Angela’s office. She immediately regretted them and felt her cheeks redden when she saw the doctor look up from her papers with a cup of Swiss coffee on her hands.

“Is something wrong, Mei?” Angela asked, almost too cheerfully considering the outburst, but Mei was thankful for it.

“I’m sorry to bother you, Doctor Ziegler, but it is Junkrat.” That seemed to be all she needed to say, as Angela raised her eyebrows in immediate understanding, her papers forgotten.

“If you want to talk, just sit down,” the doctor said, nodding to the chair opposite of the desk, “but I don’t know how much help I can be if you want anything done.”

“Oh, no, it’s not that, Doctor Ziegler.” Well, actually it WAS that, but she just needed to vent a little before she could request anything from Winston. “Besides, I think Winston is outside, and I just don’t know what to do.”

“All right, I’m happy to lend an ear. So, what did Jamison do this time?”

Mei always wanted to roll her eyes when she heard Junkrat’s real name spoken out loud. She knew of it, but had only heard it said by Angela. She found it distasteful, because using his birth-given name was like acknowledging that he was a sane human being. He was just a no-good bully – no, he was a murderous madman who would gladly blow the building up just to see the fire. Mei had to remind herself of this fact, because it could be easy to forget that when they were at the base and he acted goofy and stupid around her.

However, she knew what Angela – and most people for that matter – thought about that, and ignored it. “I found him in my room just now, when I was done showering! I keep it locked, but I think he snuck through the window or something!”

Angela widened her eyes. “What did you do? What was he doing there?”

“I screamed and reached for my blaster to get him out! And I think he was looking for my diary, because he seemed to go through my desk.”

“Your diary?” A hint of a chuckle escaped the doctor’s lips. “Why?”

“I don’t know why, probably so he can find new things to bully me with! Did you know that he puts “Shoot me” notes on my back when I go to train on the training field? And whenever we are too close he will make me trip with his foot, and once he pulled my hair needle out from behind!”

Angela quietly listened to her list of mischief, and Mei noticed a small smirk slowly work its way on the Swiss’ face. It make her more annoyed than she already was; did the doctor not take her seriously?

“Mei, could it be you’re looking at this from the wrong angle?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you say he puts notes on your back, he picks on you and seems to spend a lot of time with you. Instead of thinking he tries to make your life difficult because he hates you, I would say he might like you. You know, considering his mental state, he is just acting like a boy with a crush in the schoolyard. It is harmless, really; it’s what many boys do to get girls’ attention.”

Mei’s breathe stopped for a second, it felt like her blood would freeze. The need to yell and vent was gone, instead replaced by a slow, cold mind.

“Doctor Ziegler, you are the LAST person I want to hear that from.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s not okay, the way he’s acting, just because he’s a boy who might like a girl. If I hadn’t been able to distance myself and keep him away, I would be miserable and you guys wouldn’t _do_ anything! Hana especially seems to find it funny and encourages him!

“I can manage myself just fine when he goes over the line, but that’s because I dealt with real bullies in the past and I don’t have the patience or self-hatred to let that go anymore. But what if I didn’t? If he had met the Mei before cryostasis, the Mei who didn’t wake up to find her world gone, would she have handled it? And how would SHE feel if Dr. Ziegler of all people just said it was a “boys’ thing” that was “harmless”?”

Angela was quiet listening to her colleague’s plight, and when she was done, she looked down at her coffee in deep thought.

“I’m sorry,” she started after a while. “I didn’t realize that angle of the picture. That certainly makes sense.”

She sighed and leaned back into the chair. “I might have been a little lonely sometimes, but bullying was not a huge problem for me growing up. I can’t imagine what you must have gone through.”

“It’s okay,” Mei mumbled, still feeling her shoulders tightened. She did not like thinking back to her school days; not only were it long ago, but there was so little she needed to remember compared to all that was happening in the present.

“However, if you still would like my advice on how to make him stop…” The climatologist looked back up at Angela. “I would suggest going to him and tell him your boundaries and limits. Don’t go around the salad or give any hints, be straightforward and tell him he only makes it worse for you. Tell him what he definitely can’t do, and then tell him what you ARE okay with.

“I know it is not your job or his right that you do this, you shouldn’t have to babysit him or teach him anything, but that is the best suggestion I have at the moment. I could do it for you, but to be honest, Jamison only seems to listen to you and Roadhog, occasionally Hana and Lucio depending on his mood. It would be more effective coming from you, is what I think.”

“I don’t want to do it, but do you think it will work?”

“Considering his past, I can’t guarantee anything, Mei. But, if I am right in my assumptions, I think he will at the very least stop doing things you outright tell him is not okay. If he knows for sure what hurts your feelings, and also knows what else he can do to make you… tolerate him more, I think he will at the very least try.”

“Thank you for the help, Doctor Ziegler.”

“Any time, Mei. And again, I’m sorry for being inconsiderate earlier. I will tell Hana to consider your feelings on this matter more as well.”

Mei just smiled weakly with a nod and walked out.

\---

“Junkrat, I need to talk to you.”

“Sure, mate, whatcha wanna talk about?” Mei wanted to sigh when he did not move from his spot by the table. She would have liked to do this privately, but then again, Roadhog did not seem to care much about privacy anyway.

“I understand that you are trying to give me gifts and to cheer me up,” she started carefully, trying to remember what she had recited in her head, “but, my room is off-limits to everyone but myself unless I give them permission, so I don’t want to see… no, I don’t want you to be in my room. At all. Furthermore, I don’t like notes on my back, it hurts my feelings and I don’t think it is funny.

“Now that I’ve said it, I don’t mind being called Snowball, and I love tending to flowers, or flowers that I can put back to the earth. Your puns are funny, even if I’m not always sure whether you are joking or not. So…”

It was silent for a few seconds, with the exception of Roadhog’s heavy breathing. Junkrat’s eyes had been twitching every now and then as she had spoken, but otherwise they had stayed at her eyes. Afraid she might end up with reddened cheeks any second now, Mei coughed and turned around to walk out.

“That was what I wanted to tell you. Also, maybe consult with someone before you do some of your bigger schemes, just in case. I’m not that fond of surprises and I hate surprise hugs. Thank you for listening.”

And with that she hurriedly walked away, breathing curses in Mandarin to herself. She had actually done it, she didn’t think she would have been able to. Standing up to bullies and annoying boys was one thing, she had done that before. But actually trying to _talk_ to them and _expect_ something of them was something entirely different. Also, now that she was done and could not turn around again, she regretted her wordings and other things wrong with what she had said. But it was too late to turn around now.

“Wait, wait, wait!” Junkrat suddenly yelled, and she heard the noise of his pegleg rapidly hitting the ground, approaching her. A part of her wanted to tell him to back off, didn’t he listen to her? But, another part of her did not mind his gesture, maybe it would get rid of the horrible awkward feeling swirling around in her chest.

He came to her side, and she noticed that he actually kept a relatively respectable distance from her. Huh.

“So what about jewellery? D’ya mind that as gift?”

“I don’t really care about jewels, especially not if they are stolen; you do remember that you guys aren’t allowed to perform crime while under Overwatch’s protection, right?”

“Yeah, yeah, I wasn’t planning to,” he said, waving his hand, but then he looked away with a mumble, obviously scratching something off on his mental notebook. Mei could not help but chuckle a little at that. “All right, so, no touchy? Whaddabout if you touch me, will that break the rule?”

“No, that’s okay. But not longer than ten seconds.”

Roadhog was left behind in the small cafeteria, watching as the two small people walked out in the calmest conversation he had ever witnessed. Whaddaya know, the noisy brat was capable of listening to people. He snorted, which came more out as a cough. It would be interesting to see how long Junkrat would be able to remember and keep to these “new rules”, and how much patience the girl would spare for his experimentation to them. But, at least they were walking on common ground and communicating. It had to be good for something, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For a while, I have had my own issues with seriously shipping Meihem. Shipping them for comedy's sake and in comics is fun, because of the harmless comic relief where Junkrat is obsessively in love and doesn't know how to react to it, and Mei just hates him. But as time went on, I started to enjoy some serious fanfics and the like of them, so it was a weird balance. It did not help that, though I am more likely to just block people now, I read some anti-Meihem posts on Tumblr. In general I did not care or agree with the posts - ship-hating and bullying of shippers is a waste of time and something to be pitied - but I did agree that in the long run, Mei would have to put her foot down and tell Junkrat what she would be okay with him doing. So, I wrote this thing. I'm not that satisfied with it, but I'm such a casual fanfic writer nowadays that I knew I wouldn't be able to write it much better or deeper.
> 
> Thanks for so many kudos and comments given! Really nice to see the story still get some love even after the shipping week was over.


	6. The Cold Janitor Closet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To protect Mei from an attack, Junkrat carried her to a tiny, unsuspect room. The little space shows a side of Mei Junkrat has never seen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Semi-warning: Not exactly NSFW, but badly-written lusting written by an asexual. Also somewhat dub-con, but nothing really happens.

The first thing Junkrat saw when he opened his eyes, was Mei’s coat on fire.

He was used to explosions and the ringing and the pain, so he had an easier time to get up, hurry over to the woman and remove the burning coat swiftly and throw it away. That was when he saw the dark blue dress she was wearing, instead of the usual mission clothes, and he remembered. She was to hold a speech about global warming in a Danish gala, where they did not care about her connections to Overwatch, and threats to her lives had been made. As a result, a few other agents had joined her to protect her if something went wrong. He had been told to join because he accidentally mentioned he and Roadhog had once robbed that exact building she was to talk in. Thus, he was to inspect all the routes and secret tunnels they had used, to at least secure those.

And he had done that, but nonetheless, a bomb had gone off and fire had just sprouted from around the room. He had seen Mei unconscious by fire when the audience were busy running like cowards, and as he was about to get to her, another explosion hit behind him.

And here they were.

Oh, maybe the burning coat had hit someone else or started more fire. Ah, well.

“Oi, Snowball, are you awake?” Junkrat shook her shoulders hard and quick, and Mei groaned but did not open her eyes. Some minor flames had caught on to her other clothes and he quickly extinguished them.

“Junkrat, how’s Mei?” Tracer blinked before them, kneeling down to quickly inspect the down scientist.

“I don’t know, mate, she won’t wake up.”

“Get ‘er to safety, Genji and I’ll cover the front. Apparently some important Danish politicians were here tonight and enemies took the opportunity to attack. We still don’t know if Mei’s life is in danger, so just find a place to hide her.”

Junkrat hated taking orders, and he usually would make that quite clear, but Mei was sleeping on the floor and there were gunfire outside, but he wanted to go out and show them how REAL explosions looked, but…

“Roger that, mate.”

Tracer nodded and blinked out. He shook Mei again.

“Oi, Mei, we gotta move, ya hear me?” She moved a little but did not open her eyes. He just got up on his feet and started dragging her away while spouting. “Bloody Christ on a rocket, Mei, if you were in the Outbacks you’d be dead by now. Ya gotta learn to just shake these things off and get away, or throw your own explosions at’em, ya understand me? Also, for someone so tiny you are surprisingly heavy when yer unconscious, could you maybe give me a hand here?”

He got her out of the large room and to the open floors, which was also burning. Looking at the entrance, Genji was fighting some heavily guarded people with guns, one with a bazooka. As much as he wanted to see what it was made of, he dragged the scientist so her sleeping arm rested on his shoulders, and he clumsily ran the other direction. He got to a corridor, but his arms were weakening and he knew he would lose Mei soon. He looked at the doors, and one had the picture for janitor on. Thus, he opened the door, got her in, clumsily let her down on the floor and hurried to close it. He put a mob staff on the door and some boxes of toilet paper in front just in case.

That was when he heard a groan, and when he turned around he saw Mei still half-sitting by the wall he had put her down on. She was finally waking up.

“Junkrat?” she said, flinching as she moved. “What… happened? Where are we?”

Junkrat tried to sit down on the floor as well, which was a little hard considering he probably chose the tiniest room on the entire university, but he managed it, somehow.

“The podium exploded,” he answered, then added quickly, “It wasn’t me this time, I swear. Some suit had enemies that wanted to get’m and Poster Girl and Green Cyborg Ninja Dude went to fight’em. They told me to get you away in case yer still a target.”

Mei tried to move, but the movement only caused boxes to get rattled. Gunshots were heard, as well as people yelling in another language. Running footsteps passed the room, then it got silent again.

Junkrat felt his arm and leg itching. He really wanted to leave and see the mayhem outside. Maybe, since the scientist was awake, it would be fine to let her be alone in the room and join the fight? Sure, he didn’t have the Frag Launcher or the RIP-Tire, but he could easily steal something from the enemies and show them how REAL explosions looked like.

In fact, the junker was halfway up to his feet when he heard a weak voice from the floor.

“It’s cold.”

“Whah?” Junkrat took a second to get a feel of the air in the room. It wasn’t hot, but it wasn’t cold, either. It was like that time when they were in a coffee shop in France and he and Roadhog were hungry but didn’t have money so he decided to trade some bombs at the shop, bombs he had made himself to-

Focus, Junkrat. “It’s not cold, Snowball.”

“No, it IS. Don’t you feel it? The temperature’s falling.” As if to demonstrate, she started embracing her bare shoulders as she shivered. Her eyes looked straight ahead, but they weren’t focused. Junkrat faintly remembered her glasses being broken before he got to her, maybe that was why her eyes couldn’t focus. Maybe he needed glasses too, because sometimes it felt like he also couldn’t focus as much as he probably should have, but the question was, did glasses help a person focus, or did it just help them see better?

Faint sobbing brought him back to reality, and he looked down at the little squishy thing on the corner. It was just weird to think that this little ball of shakiness was Snowball, the person who would glare at bullies and junkers and freeze people without a second thought.

“It’s so cold, we’re going to freeze,” she whispered, her hands moving and rubbing her arms as if that would help.

“Oi, Snowball, I’m serious, it’s not cold.” He did not realize just how worried his voice was turning. He kneeled down so he could see her better, but her fallen hair was in the way. Without thinking about her usual protests, he moved his good hand to remove it, touching the skin of her forehead in the process. This made her finally focus her gaze up on him.

“Your hand is so warm,” she said shakily.

“Yeah, I know, Snowball. But it isn’t cold, yer just imaginin’ it.”

“No!” she protested, “It really IS cold. We, we have to, I mean…” Her cheeks reddened as she shyly looked down, a finger scratching the tip of her lips. “Hug me?”

Now Junkrat definitely wished he had some sort of weapon on him, because he would have to use it on himself to check if he was asleep. “Say what?”

“Just, you know, to keep warm…” Slowly, Mei moved her hands to touch his chest. They were not as warm as his skin, but they definitely were not cold. Junkrat was not sure what to do, so he sat down again before her and let her move closer.

The scientist accepted all too well. She practically jumped at him, arms around his torso and her head pressed to his chest.

“O-oi, Snowball, this aint like you at all…” He tried to move a little so he could lean against the wall, and as he did this, the scientist who on any other day would use any excuse to stay away followed, now sitting on his crossed lap. It did not seem like she heard him.

“Please, I don’t want to freeze again,” she sobbed into his skin, and he could feel her cold tears as they landed and dripped down. “Never again. Please. I don’t want everything to go away again. I can’t.”

As if scared he would force her away, she tightened her hold around his torso, and she pressed herself harder against him. “Please, put your arms around me,” she whispered, and he did as she asked. He realized just how thin her dress for the occasion really had been, short to her lower thighs, completely armless, only two thin straps over her shoulders holding it up.

It was then he really noticed her breasts, squished between the two bodies. Junkrat could not think; they were warm and they were soft and they were just _there_ , and he did not know what to do, really. For once, he had nothing witty to say, not even anything perverted, and his rapid heartbeat muted whatever sounds might come from the outside. Not to mention Mei’s heavy breaths, which kept tingling the right side of his chest.

How she could claim it was cold, he would never understand, because the room was getting hotter than a winter’s day in Australia right now, and Junkrat could not _think_. He could not _think_ , he could not _think_ …

Therefore, without _thinking_ , his arms around her moved ever so much to her shoulders. Taking the straps, he brought her dress down to expose her shoulders, and half of her bra. It was so his warm skin could easier give her the illusion of warmth, his non-thinking brain reasoned as his good arm kept going up and down on her now bare back, her front still pressed against his chest.

 _Coincidentally_ , his real foot was beginning to prickle, and he moved it slightly, putting it up between Mei’s own legs. He then lifted it, pushing her lower body closer.

Did Mei just _moan_?

It was like his limbs had lives of their own. Now his hands moved down from her back, sliding carefully down to the rim of her dress, touching her bare thighs. Then, when they were underneath the indigo fabric, they swiftly moved up, dragging the dress somewhat up with them, up to the bra clip.

Okay, he did not hear wrong, that was _definetely_ a moan. Followed by her voice saying something.

He stopped for a moment, trying to hear her breathy whispers. However, whatever she said must have been in Chinese, because he could not understand a thing. Actually asking was for some reason not an idea in his head at the moment.

She whispered again, this time a little louder, and her legs moved apart ever so much, giving his knee access to-

“Doctor Zhou! Junkrat! Where are you?”

Junkrat groaned and considered ignoring Green Cyborg Ninja Dude’s call, continue where this was going, but he noticed that Mei was quiet now, not even a breath coming out from her lips. And though the room was still warm, it felt like the air was cooling, and on any other day he would make a crude comment to get rid of the awkwardness, but this was Mei and she had been scared, and she was slowly removing her head from his chest. Away from him, like usual.

Therefore, not wanting her to be the only one moving, he took his hands away from her dress, and his leg moved down so it laid flat on the floor. It seemed like Mei caught on and shakily got up to her feet, her hands adjusting the dress and putting the straps back in place.

“We-we’re in here,” Mei said after making sure she looked somewhat proper. Her arms stayed around her shoulders, though. “Wait, I will move these things and open the door.”

And that she did, while Junkrat was sitting on the floor, contemplating whether a cyborg was really human, or omnic enough that he could scrap Ninja Dude when they were back in base without feeling _too_ bad about it.

\-----

A couple of days passed, and Junkrat was in his messy room, sitting on his chair and tinkering with the frag launcher. That was when someone knocked on the door. In the Outbacks he would have just ignored it or left the building, as the only people knocking there were suits, blue men or other junkers that wanted to taunt their new prey. Here, however, he knew that he was safe, and that only a handful of people would intrude, so with a groan, he said the door was open.

Carefully, the door creaked, and he turned around and found Mei there, seemingly torn between coming in or staying outside.

“G’day, mate, fancy seeing you here,” he said with a grin. She smiled slightly in turn, and took a few steps in.

“Hey, I just wanted to say… thank you for, um, you know.”

“Sure thing, cobber.”

“Thing is, when I’m in small spaces like that janitor closet, I kind of get… delusional. It… reminds me of being in the cryo-pod, and everything that was going on at the Watchpoint: Atlantica.” She leaned a little to the side, her arms crossed like she would do occasionally, to unknowingly give an extra bust of her chest. He fought against a snicker. “We had to power up the cryopods, but in order to do that we had to remove the warmth power of the entire facility, so the last twenty hours we were all freezing, and successful cryo-freezing hadn’t really been well-known at the time and, well… we were scared.

“I was livid right until the moment I was frozen, in that little pod, not knowing what to do or what would happen. So, I guess I just wanted to explain my…” She searched for the right words, a blush creeping in to her cheeks, “different behaviour that night at the university. Sorry you had to see me like that.”

“Eh, it’s okay, Snowball, we all have our moments when we fail to perform.” Realizing what he had just said, he quickly waved his prosthetic arm. Christ forbid he would start sounding like the dwarf. “In emergency situations, of course.”

“Right.” He could see how she was fighting not to roll her eyes, and moved from her leaning spot to exit. Then, she hesitated, before she spoke again.

“Also, thank you for ignoring what I said at the end.” Her face somehow got even redder. “It was… surprisingly nice of you to not go, uh, there.”

“What?”

“You know, when I told you to-“ The voice faltered and she looked confused over at him. “At the end, the things I said before Genji called?”

“I don’t speak Chinese.”

“Oh,” she said after a few seconds. “ _Oh_ , I spoke in-“ She started to nervously chuckle as the realization kicked in. “Right, that makes sense. Of course. So you didn’t understand what I said. Because you don’t understand Mandarin. Which was what I spoke. Yes.”

“Yer talkin’ to yourself, Snowball,” he pointed out with a smirk, “sure you’re not going mental too?”

“What?” Mei blinked and quickly pushed her new glasses back up. “Oh, yes, I mean, no, I’m perfectly fine and, um, uh… So, uh, yeah. Thank you. Bye.”

Junkrat knew he should just have let her go, that it would have been the sensible thing. But he’s Junkrat and sensible was not in his vocabulary. So, when she had her back to him and was about to leave, he quickly said,

“What DID ya say?”

She flinched and turned nervously around. “I-it doesn’t matter, does it? It’s over, I should just-“

“ _Mei_ _Snowball_ ,” he said with a scandalous tone, his grin quickly spreading as he rose from the chair and put his prosthetic arm on his chest as if offended. “You didn’t say something _naughty_ , didja?”

“Wh-what? No, of course not! I was delirious, panicked and cold, I-I-“ She leaned back against the wall when he stood before her, his prosthetic arm blocking her exit as it leaned to the space beside her.

“Now that ya mention it, whatever you said did sound kinda slow, dark…” He leaned down so he could meet her face, “se- _DUC_ -tive.” The tiny hairs on her neck rose and she slowly swallowed. “So what didja say, Snowball? ‘Oh, please rub me tits, Junkrat’? ‘Squishy needs more warm up the crack’?”

He knew he should stop, and if he had the tact and sanity of normal mundies he might have, definitely if he knew she had a blaster with her that contained a small can of cryo-gas. However, a last line flashed before him and he could not stop himself before he said with the teethiest grin, “’Turn me ‘round and f-‘“

He was not even surprised when she took her blaster from behind her and froze him solid, letting her leave with a red face and with a gait carrying extra frustration than usual.

Well, whatever progress they had made was back to what it had been before the gala. He cursed to himself as he slowly unfroze from that weird, abnormal artificial frost she had created. The launcher forgotten, he jumped down at the bed, put his arms behind his head and just looked up at the sooted roof. Trying to let the soot remind him of explosions and chaos and fire, and absolutely not warm air in a tiny room shared with a thin-clad climatologist.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to write a scene where Mei was scared and vulnerable and how Junkrat might react to it, and it… kind of changed from that. I'm no good with anything steamy, but when she first hugged Junkrat it kind of wrote itself. It was fun to try at least. The worst part was probably writing from Junkrat's point of view. I tried to have him distracted by things around him but I never really got it down. I prefer Mei's perspective, but in this case I wanted it to be from Junkrat's.


	7. New Leg

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a flank fails, Mei gets to know two other sides of Junkrat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not that well-written, and I have absolutely no idea how Junkrat's leg actually works. However, it does not seem to be like his arm, which has its own "muscles". IT seems like it is just two staves that go back and forth depending on the weight he puts on it. It's hard to explain, but that is why I never write about technology. ^^;

The ringing in her ear was overflowing and she let out sobs as her hands oriented themselves on the ground. _Think_ , _Mei_ , _where am I again? What had happened_?

She, Junkrat, McCree, Roadhog and Tracer were somewhere in Route 66, trying to stop the new Deadlock Gang from taking some sort of bomb. She and Junkrat had paired together to surprise the gang in the gas station, but one had somehow deflected Tracer’s bomb and moved it to their location, and now…

Mei opened her eyes and saw the debris around her. She was inside the station, some of the roof had collapsed and blocked all exits, but otherwise they were alive. The ringing was going away now, and she could hear shooting on the distance.

Where was Junkrat?

She lifted her hand as she raised herself, trying to feel any fallen roof. She was lucky, they had jumped far enough from the bomb that she could safely stand up without hitting her head. Mei picked up her flashlight from her pocket and looked around, whispering “Junkrat?”.

She found him rather quickly, laying on the ground where more of the debris had fallen, closer to the exit. Did she remember it wrong? She could swear both of them had jumped away, but from the position of where they had laid, it almost looked like he had pushed her farther…

A weak groan escaped the junker’s lips, and Mei was brought back to the present.

“Oh, my gosh,” she whispered and hurried to kneel to him. “Oh, my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh…”

The climatologist heard another bullet fire, this one closer, and she hurriedly put her hands around Junkrat and tried to drag him away from the potentially dangerous debris, closer to a corner where the roof might be more stable.

That was easier said than done, though. Despite the man being thin and lacking a few limbs, he was heavy and Mei had to drag him in turns, a little each time. Through it all she was spewing Mandarin curses and mumbles to calm herself down, with little success.

It was when she got him to the corner and laid him down that she tried to get the communicator to work.

“Hello? Can anyone hear me?”

“Mercy here, Mei, what happened?”

Mei sighed in relief. Mercy had stayed behind in the helicopter in case they needed emergency healing and a quick escape.

“I don’t know what happened, Junkrat and I were waiting to ambush them but then there was an explosion – it wasn’t Junkrat this time – and the gas station halfway fell over us _and we’re trapped here and Junkrat’s unconscious but I don’t know_ -“

“Slow down, Mei, I can’t understand you!”

Mei tried to take a few semi-deep breaths.

“There, good; you started speaking Chinese halfway, you must really be worried.”

“I’m _scared_! Doctor Ziegler, what should I do?”

“Okay, first, you have to make sure Junkrat’s breathing. Have you checked his pulse?”

Mei looked over at Junkrat’s chest. Then she realized that at some point she had lost her glasses, and _if_ the man was breathing, it was not obvious for her horrible sight.

“I-I can’t see, I lost my glasses.”

“All right, then take off your glove and gently hold it over his chest. Meanwhile, you take your ear down to his mouth and feel for breath.”

The danger outside, the danger _inside_ , the thought that one of her companions might be dead or dying by her side. It all was forgotten when Mei said a simple, “What?”

“Mei, I know you and Junkrat have your… differences,” Ziegler said, which was putting it lightly, “and I know you might have said some things about never touching him even to save your life, but this is important, and it might be to save _his_ life. So do what I said – and I know you heard me – and check his pulse.”

“But Doctor Ziegler-“

“Do you want him to live or not?”

Silence.

“MEI.”

“…Is there a right answer?”

“ _Yes_ , Mei.” One could almost hear the migraine forming in the doctor’s head. “Do as I said, McCree needs my help right now. Contact me if you need additional guidance.” There was a pause as Mei waited for the signal that the communication was broken, before she heard Mercy add in a final, “You do _not_ want to tell Roadhog you let his employer _die_ , Mei.”

She heard a click to signal that contact was lost. Mei looked at Junkrat’s bare chest, at the tanned and sooted skin, and groaned. Continuously reminding herself that he was unconscious and would never have to know, she slowly removed her glove. Even more slow, she guided her hand over to the junker’s chest.

Then retreated it.

Then quickly let it hover over the skin. Then another retreat.

Finally, with a squeaky groan, she let the hand touch the skin – she would never _not_ be surprised by how much warmth the man’s body produced – and sat there, as if expecting to suddenly get corrupted with a love for explosions and manic cackling. After a second, she leaned down to his face, closing her eyes so she didn’t have to be too reminded how close they were, and turned so her ear was right over his open mouth. She tried to ignore the gunshots outside, tried to listen and feel something, some sign of life.

And she felt a pulse.

“Well, that’s a fine howd’ya do.”

She did not exactly scream, but if someone outside had heard it, they might have described it as something of a mix of scream and a squeak, the sound she made when she jumped away from the body, inelegantly landing on her behind as her feet feebly tried to kick some distance between the two.

“You, you, you-“ she stuttered, pointing at him. “You were AWAKE this whole time?”

“Me? Nah,” Junkrat answered, coughing a little. He did not move. “Just woke up to your hair in me eyes.”

“I-I was checking for a pulse,” Mei said, feeling her cheeks getting warmer. “I lost my glasses and had to feel for it.”

“Aw, Snowball, you do ca-“ Another cough escaped his lips, this one stronger, and he used his good arm to raise himself up. Then he noticed something and cursed.

“What?”

“Me arm and leg. Arm’s not working and leg’s gone.”

“Oh, no,” Mei said, turning around to unsuccessfully see if anything blurry might stand out in all the other blurriness. “Can you fix the arm?”

“Not here, but I’ve got a reserve emergency-leg.”

She was about to ask where when he moved his left arm behind his back. She heard some metal softly clashing, then drag something that she could vaguely recognize as his leg.

“Do you carry an extra leg everywhere?”

“Eh, sometimes, if I remember it. Now, come on, help me get it on.”

“O… okay…” Mei got closer to him, accepted the peg leg. She shifted the gaze from it to the stump on his leg. “Are you sure this will work?”

“Oi, it’s just me emergency-leg, it ain’t that hard, just take the stub there – look at where I’m pointing, Snowball – and push the brake down. It’ll take hold automatically then.”

“Really?” She could not help but sound dubious, looking down at the metal scrap that was his pegleg. It just seemed like it was far from complex enough to be able to do that. Angela had repeatedly told Junkrat that she could arrange for proper prosthetics for him, but he always refused vigorously. “It… doesn’t look like it will be able to do that.”

“Sure it will, I made it myself.” Like that was going to convince her. “Make sure the leg is positioned right, and get it as high up as you can.” Mei did as he told her to, and when the leg was placed high enough, she took a strong hold on the brake, and after warning the junker, pushed it down.

She expected him to yell out in pain, which immediately had her regret not making him have something in his mouth. Instead, he yelped – rather painfully – for a good long second before it graduated into a long, howling “ooooh”, his grimace looking more like-

“Are you-… are you AROU-…”

She took a quick, regrettable look down, realized just how CLOSE she was and immediately let go of the leg to move away. “Ew! Disgusting! Get away from me!”

“I can’t do that, I lost me leg!”

“Still! Just-just stop DOING- just STOP, ew!”

“Oi, are you telling me that you NEVER feel any sudden urges?” Was the man actually smirking? This insane junker who seemed to only be panicked or cackling on a regular basis? “Is the little icicle hugger one of those that spent their entire night just watching on the net?”

“Wha- Ew, NO, you are disgusting! Not everyone is a perverted bully like you!”

It was as if that activated his old self, as he started cackling at her accusations. Still, she might be paranoid, but she had a feeling he was laughing out of amusement than the normal explosion-loving insanity.

“I’m serious! A-a-anyway, I don’t have to explain anything of my personal life to you! I am done putting it back on-“

“That’s what _she_ said!”

“And SHUT UP! I swear, I’ll…” With a head red as a tomato, she quickly retrieved her gun and pointed it somewhere between his chest and his crotch. “I will help you cool it if you don’t stop!”

“All right, all right!” He did not actually seem scared, though. “I’ll just have to wait a while until I get back my feeling on the leg, so nothing more for you to do. You did well, Snowball, considerin’ it’s yer FIRST TIME and all…”

Mei pushed the trigger ever so little, a hint of frost coming out.

“All right, even I get the point, I’ll stop.” The scientist sighed and rose up to her feet, peeking out to check if Junkrat’s howling had summoned any enemy attention.

“Mei?” Mercy’s voice came out from the communicator. “I’m sending Roadhog to your position, it’s quiet there at the moment. He’ll see if he can find a way out for you. How is Jamison?”

“He’s fine, Dr. Ziegler. A little-“ Mei tried to find the right words, but found nothing. “A little out, and his prosthetics aren’t working, but he had an emergency extra-leg.”

“Oh, that’s fine. Actually, I think Winston and Torbjörn have a few prosthetics back at base…” Mei listened to some Swiss mumbling and folding papers. “Don’t tell Junkrat anything, but while you’re waiting, try to make him open to the possibility of actual good limbs, all right? Also-“ Statics interrupted her for a second. “Ah, I’m needed elsewhere, but please do it, Mei. Mercy out.”

Communication was out, and Mei sighed before turning around to Junkrat, who was mumbling an impressive river of curses as he tried to get up.

“Roadhog is coming to help us.”

“Ah, perfect! I can always count on ‘Hog to save me! He gotta, otherwise he doesn’t get paid.”

Mei wanted to say that she thought Roadhog stayed and helped him for more than just the payment, but admittedly she did not know the giant that well, so she kept her tongue. Instead, she approached him, her eyes on his face and definitely never taking a look down, and offered her hand to help him get up.

“Thanks, mate.” When first up, he lost his balance, and suddenly a lot of weight leant against Mei. His good hand went from her hand to her shoulder, and her face was just centimeters from his dirty, sweaty, tanned, well-toned chest. “Sorry ‘bout that. Been a while since I hatta use this leg. Not as good as the old one.”

“It’s… okay,” Mei said, trying to not gulp at the proximity of his warm skin. Trying to remember what Mercy had told her, she inhaled as she helped him make some distance. “Uh, you know… Doctor Ziegler said Winston and Torbjörn have some new state-of-the-art prosthetics at the base. I’m sure they’d love to help you when we get home.”

She had not noticed at first how his expression darkened ever so slightly at the mention of Mercy, and his eyebrows frowned and his grin fell the more she spoke. If he had looked at her and not let it his glare fall to the floor, she might have actually been scared.

“I don’t want any help from ‘em.”

“Oh.” Mei was unsure what to say. “Okay. If that’s what you want…”

He said nothing, then they could hear some hard pounding outside. It caused some dust to fall on them, but otherwise it seemed safe. It must have been Roadhog.

“We’re in here, Roadhog!” Mei called out, and quietly waited for the grunt of acknowledgement from the criminal. When it came, she leaned against the wall beside Junkrat, watching him switch weight between the legs.

“So… If you don’t mind me asking, why don’t you want Mercy’s help? I mean, your work is… good? But you have the chance to get some real state of the art prosthetics. I don’t see why you keep rejecting them.”

“It’s hard to explain to mundies, Snowball,” he grumbled, still not looking at her. Mei swallowed air, prepared to be rejected again.

“Well, I want to understand, so try me.”

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he lifted his gaze up to her, studying the intentions behind her eyes. Mei held her ground. After a few seconds, the man mimicked her and leaned against the wall.

“I lost me limbs in the Outbacks, it was chaos everywhere since the core blew up, and nobody would come to help us. To survive we had to be able to run quick, to move. Hard to do when you miss a leg, yeah? So me mum, she found some scraps around and made me a leg. It hurt like hell, I tell you, but with it I could walk on me own so Mum could carry everything else on her back and not worry for me.”

Mei wanted to ask what had happened to his father, who was yet to be mentioned. However, she recognized something in his eyes, the way his eyebrows slowly moved down as he spoke. She kept quiet.

“Me mum… well, I kept growing out of the legs she made, and she decided to show me how to adjust or make me own leg. After that, I got better at it, learned more about mechanics and machines, and I was able to even make me own arm! With what little we had in the wasteland and how much I used to make _art_ , I’m damn proud of me self!

“I don’t want other’s limbs because these are something _I_ made, something that reminds me that _I_ have to take care of meself and that’s how the world made sense to me when I woke up and it was just…” He looked up at the ceiling, frowning as he looked for the word, “gone.”

“Junkrat…”

As if realizing what he had said, his eyes widened a little. Then he chuckled and looked away. “Ah, like I said, mundies can’t understand-“

“Jamison, I _understand_.” And it was the truth. Flashes ran through her eyes. A cold laboratory, the sights of unknown technology, friends grown old and a world moved on. All after what felt like a long night’s sleep in a world that used to make sense. “You have no idea how much I understand. I will tell Dr. Ziegler and the others to stop talking about it. Unless you go to them or it is about life and death, they will never bother you about it again.”

She gently put her hand on his shoulder – when had she removed her glove again? – and smiled up at him. “Thank you for telling me.”

Junkrat looked down at her, and just as Roadhog was making an opening for them to get out, he flashed her one of his teethy grins.

“Thanks, sheila.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Though this is technically the seventh chapter and thus the last chapter for the Meihem Shipping Week, I have other ideas I hope to write more about in the future. For now, I'm happy I completed the week-long chapters.


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